Limited focussing with 2 inch diagonal
I have a Skywatcher 102/500 scope which Have mostly used with 1.25 inch eyepieces. I have mostly used 32 and 12.4 mm Meade series 4000 eyepieces (sometimes with a 2x barlow) although I do have a range of plossls from 20 to 4 mm.
Over Easter a friend at work lent me a 2 inch star diagonal from Williams and a 2 inch GSO 30mm eyepiece. That was a fantastic experience - so much so that my 30 minute test run turned into 3 hours outside.
One thing I noticed, though, was that I could not bring my 1.25" eyepieces into focus with the 2 inch diagonal. In fact, I noticed I only had about a centimetre of play when I was focused using the 2 inch EP.
Is this a normal sate of affairs for this (or other) scopes? I had thought enough of the view to consider getting a 2 inch set, but worried I might get bored with the capabilities of just one eyepiece. Then I thought that a 2x Barlow might give me a solution to making the scope a little more flexible, but I am worried about shelling out for one to find it, too, doesn't come into focus. Unfortunately my friend doesn't have a Barlow that I could use to test it.
Is there any way of finding out it will work before I buy, and would it be worthwhile to use a Barlow this way in any event? I could live with it being a rich field scope only, I suppose, because I can't use binoculars, but I would like maximum flexibility on my scope.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Matthew
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